Since I became a parent seven years ago, there have been many special moments that I hadn’t really thought about happening before I had children. One of them is definitely Christmas. Whilst I did think ‘Oh Christmas will be magical, now we have a child’, I didn’t really appreciate how magical it would be and that the magic gets better each year they get older.
My girls are 5 and 7 years old and well and truly believe in Father Christmas, they just burst with excitement at the mention of him and anything to do with Christmas. I know that I don’t have many more years left of this, and I am soaking up every single bit of excitement.
On Saturday we headed to The Spinnaker Tower, as we had been invited along to experience their Tower Toymakers Workshop and we had two very excited girls. We’ve visited The Spinnaker Tower before, when I tried out The Drop, which was amazing and we were looking forward to another great day out.
A week before our visit, the girls received some exciting post, inviting them both to the Towers Toymakers Workshop because they were on Father Christmas nice list. This is such a lovely start to the experience and Alice read her letter more than once.
When we arrived at The Spinnaker Tower on Saturday we were greeted by the elves and they checked us in. There was a fun reindeer game the children could do, whilst we waited for all the families to arrive. We were then taken by one of the elves in the lift and outside to a platform area where Tower Toymakers Workshop was. Another Elf was waiting to let us in.
The Toymakers Workshop was beautifully decorated and there were soft toys everywhere!
Inside were two tables with places for 6 children on each table, they were set out with a soft toy ready for the children to stuff. The children sat down and started to stuff their toys. There wasn’t much room in there with all the adults too and it was hard to help the children. But luckily the girls knew what to do and were able to get their penguins stuffed.
With their penguins stuffed, it was time to add the heart. There were different ones to choose from and the girls both went for ‘best friends’.
With the penguins finished, they had to complete a birth certificate for them. Deciding on what to call their penguin is always fun. Alice decided to call hers, Purple and Holly called hers Alice, after her sister. Which is just the cutest.
The girls loved making their penguins!
With the penguins finished it was time to meet Father Christmas. In one corner of the workshop was Father Christmas’s grotto and the children were called up in families, to meet him.
Alice is always really brave when it comes to meeting Father Christmas, but Holly is a bit unsure. Luckily Alice looks after her and Holly is desperate to meet him, so that she can let him know what her wish for Christmas is.
Father Christmas asked them what they had called their penguins and what they were wishing for Christmas.
The girls loved visiting the Tower Toymakers Workshop and it was a really lovely experience. A great start to the festive period. To enjoy the Tower Toymakers Workshop experience, booking is recommended. It costs £10 per child, with no admission to The Spinnaker Tower. Or, if you would like to visit The Spinnaker too, you can pay £15 per child, plus the standard admission price for adults. You can find all the details here.
We then took a trip up The Spinnaker Tower, it was a clear day and we had great views looking out.
The girls favourite thing to do is walk across the glass floor. Alice loves it, and Holly is a little more tentative having to hold the bar as she walks across.
When I saw walk, I also mean lie down!
We could see the Isle of Wight and the ships coming in and out.
Of course the girls brought along their penguins to see too!
On the middle level there is a cafe, where you can enjoy a drink whilst enjoying the views. We went on up to the Sky Garden right at the top.
There are telescopes on all the levels for you see the views even better.
In the summer they have deckchairs laid out and its nice to sit down and enjoy the views.
We enjoyed going up The Spinnaker Tower and it made a nice addition to the Tower Toymakers Workshop experience.
You can find details of The Spinnaker Tower here.
Disclosure: We were kindly invited to enjoy the experience at The Spinnaker Tower. All views, opinions and photos are my own.
